Networks, both computer and telephone, support public and private users in personal and business enterprises. As the use of networks has increased over time, so has the need for more bandwidth. Fiber optic networks were developed to meet this need and transmit data (e.g., voice and data signals) at high data rates. SONET (“Synchronous Optical Network”) and SDH (“Synchronous Digital Hierarchy”) were developed to be standards for fiber optic transmission.
In a conventional SONET/SDH network, the nodes have little or no information about other nodes in the network. Nodes are typically add/drop multiplexors (ADM). Conventional SONET/SDH networks require a system administrator to set up connection routes between ports coupled to the nodes of the network. A system administrator may program the route in each node along the path from an ingress point to an egress point on the network. Typically, each node (switch) in the network must be manually programmed to pass information in this manner. If a failure occurs in any one of the connections, the system administrator must manually reroute the connections by reprogramming the switches. Therefore, in order to provision each of the switches in a SONET/SDH network, one or more system administrators may be required to spend days inserting all of the needed information.